The Calicut Bar Association’s suspension of a woman lawyer following her comment on a social networking site about the sexist attitude of some of her male colleagues has become a much discussed topic these days.
But after the women lawyers of the Bar came out in support of the association’s action on Friday, the discussion is on why women turn against each other in such situations.
The lawyer in question, Anima Muyarath, who refused to apologise to the Association for making the remarks on her Facebook page, and was subsequently suspended from the Association, has been applauded by many women’s rights activists as well as organisations for her ‘brave stance’.
The country’s first woman Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh, who said she personally followed the issue, was quick to classify the case as one of sexual harassment at workplace. It was only on Saturday that during a national seminar on ‘Vishakha Guidelines’ the noted human rights activist Kavita Sreevastava, associated with Vishakha, hailed Ms.Anima as ‘a woman who dared to break the silence’. Anila George, lawyer, condemned the action taken by the bar association and termed the stance of the woman lawyers as ‘despicable’.
V.P. Zuhra, the founder of NISA, blamed the male chauvinistic mind frame that has been drilled into the female psyche from birth. “ Women in our society are taught to protect the interests of men first”, she told The Hindu .
P.Viji, Secretary of Penkoottu, an organisation of women labourers in S.M.Street said that incidents similar to this often happen in their workplace, and that her organisation was formed mainly to fight it.
K. S. Jayasree, secretary of Sthreechethana an organisation for women, feels that people who were part of a professional body were bound to protect the interests of that body, beyond their personal opinions and hence the women lawyers could have turned against Ms.Anima.